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Air India has just taken delivery of its first purpose-built wide body aircraft since being privatized four years ago, and I’d say that’s a pretty major milestone.
Air India gets first new Dreamliner in over eight years
When Air India was privatized four years ago, we were promised that the airline would be completely transformed. I don’t think any of us were expecting that would happen overnight, though it sure feels like it has been a glacial process.
For example, most passengers traveling to and from North America are still flying on the carrier’s woefully outdated Boeing 777s, with interiors that are falling apart.
Air India has hundreds of planes on order, and also has plans to introduce all-new cabin interiors on existing planes. Despite that, so far, not a single new purpose-built Air India wide body jet is in service, and not a single Air India wide body jet with new interiors is in service.
So there’s an exciting update. Air India has just taken delivery of its first purpose-built wide body aircraft since being privatized. Specifically, the Boeing 787-9 with the registration code VT-AWA has just been delivered to the airline. The plane landed in Delhi (DEL) in the early morning hours of January 11, 2026.
Air India is expected to take delivery of four of these planes in 2026, along with two Airbus A350-1000s, which should be the new flagship aircraft for the airline.
Now, to clarify a few points:
- Air India has taken delivery of six Airbus A350-900s over the past couple of years; while these are great planes, they were intended for Aeroflot, but couldn’t be delivered due to sanctions, so these weren’t purpose-built for Air India
- Air India has 21 Boeing 787-9s on order, which will complement the six ex-Vistara Boeing 787-9s that Air India has inherited (which have fairly nice interiors)
- Air India has 26 Boeing 787-8s in its fleet, which are in the process of being reconfigured with new interiors, and the first plane with new cabins should enter service soon
What to expect onboard Air India’s new Dreamliners
Air India hasn’t formally unveiled its new Boeing 787-9 interiors, though we know the planes will be in a three-cabin configuration, with business class, premium economy, and economy.
Going back a couple of years, the expectation was that these planes would feature the Safran Unity product, which is one of the best business class seats out there (Japan Airlines was the launch customer for these seats, on its A350-1000s). Below is a promotional video from the time, specific to the Boeing 777-300ER retrofits (as those planes will also retain first class).
However, that’s not how things are actually shaking out. Instead, it’s my understanding that all new and reconfigured Dreamliners are getting the same interiors, including the same new business class. Air India has selected the Adient Ascent seat for all of its Dreamliners. This product is built as part of a joint venture between Adient and Boeing, so it’s specifically designed for the 787.
That’s why you’ll also find this seat on the newest Boeing 787-9s of Qatar Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, and American Airlines, and soon it’ll also be debuting on United Airlines.
So this is a solid business class product, and a huge improvement over what the airline otherwise offers. However, it’s also pretty generic, and not really something that sets the airline apart. But when you’re based in a country as big as India, you just need to be “good enough” so that customers aren’t willing to connect via the Gulf region to avoid you.
Bottom line
Air India has just taken delivery of a Boeing 787-9, which is the first wide body plane the airline has acquired since being privatized that actually has interiors customized for the airline. It took four years to get to this point, but it’s exciting to finally see this.
The other good news is that the first retrofitted Boeing 787-8 with new interiors should be flying soon. This is all a very slow process, but hey, at least there’s progress.
What do you make of Air India’s Boeing 787-9 delivery?
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